The Nevada Traveler: Paradise Valley has a unique building history

According to many sources, Paradise Valley was named in the 1860s when a new arrival to the valley looked around and declared, “This is paradise.”

Located about 22 miles northeast of Winnemucca, the valley certainly is one of the state’s more picturesque places. With its grassy meadows and snowmelt-fed creeks, the valley is a virtual oasis in the Nevada desert.

The first non-Native American visitor to the region is believed to have been Peter Skene Ogden, an explorer and trapper, who traveled through the area in 1828 while searching for beaver.

The initial settlers in the valley, however, didn’t arrive until about 1863, when miners prospecting for ore in
the Santa Rosa range came upon the verdant valley and decided to stay and establish a community.

According to historian Howard Wight Marshall, who has written an excellent history of the valley, the region soon attracted settlers from a wide variety of ethnic groups, including Chinese, Germans, Basques, Hispanic-Californians and Italians.

By the turn of the century, a small village, originally known as Paradise City, had developed along the banks of Cottonwood Creek near the center of the valley.

According to Marshall, the three most successful businessmen in the town’s formative years were J.B. Case, an attorney and schoolteacher, who owned the general store; Charles Kemler, whose home served as a hotel, schoolhouse and lodge hall; and Alfonso Pasquale, who operated several hotels, a saloon and other commercial ventures.

Pasquale also was the unofficial leader in the Italian-American community in Paradise Valley and sponsored a number of immigrants from Italy, many from the Piedmont area of that country.

These newcomers brought skills with them, including knowledge of traditional stone-masonry. This skill proved valuable in their new home as they were called upon to construct many of the buildings in Paradise Valley including a magnificent Catholic Church, bunkhouses, barns, cellars and other structures using locally-quarried stone.

Additionally, Paradise Valley had an adobe brick factory, which produced material used for many of the valley’s buildings. The town’s adobe structures generally pre-date the stone buildings, having been built between the 1860s and late 1870s.

The end result is that Paradise Valley has a distinctive architecture considered somewhat unusual in Nevada. Historian Marshall notes that in particular “the Italians’ buildings stand apart in their medium of construction, their striking appearance among other buildings on the ranches, their durability and resistance to removal or alteration, and the fact that people in Paradise Valley say these old stone buildings are important.”

Wandering the tree-lined streets of Paradise Valley is a chance to glimpse some of the valley’s special character. At the north end of the town is a cluster of abandoned buildings including the historic Micca Hotel, once owned by Alfonso Pasquale.

The two-story hotel was built over several years (there is an adobe building underneath a wooden façade and various wood and stone additions), starting in 1902.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it played an important role for many years as the social center for the valley’s Italian-American population.

Across the street from the hotel are twin adobe structures, built in the 1870s, which served as the living quarters for the local butcher’s family and as the butcher shop. A smokehouse was attached to the back.
Crossing Cottonwood Creek, which runs behind the hotel, you head into the heart of the town and pass an old wooden barn and the white “bridge house,” built in 1910. This two-story wooden building served as a boardinghouse for Basque sheepherders.

Turning the corner onto the town’s main street, you can pass the former Schwartz Mercantile and General Store, the last adobe structure erected in town (1879).

On the west side of the street is another adobe building, originally an adobe wagon-making shop, also built in the 1870s. Today, it remains in use as a home office for a local rancher.

Adjacent is the International Order of Odd Fellows Hall, originally a mercantile owned by Charles Kemler. This adobe structure was constructed in 1874.

The J.B. Case Paradise Mercantile, down the street, is a granite building, constructed by the Italian stonemasons in 1910. It is one of the few remaining commercial buildings still in use (it’s the town’s only saloon and restaurant).

Down the street, you can spot the town’s quaint red-painted, wooden water tower (it sits in a beautiful pasture filled with horses) as well as the wooden, steepled Protestant Church (originally a Methodist Church), built in 1895.

One of the valley’s landmark structures, located at the south end of town, is St. Alphonso’s Catholic Church, also built by the Italian stonemasons, which was erected in 1906.

This solid granite building has a northern-Italian-style bell tower at the rear and elegant arched windows. It is still used for semi-regular religious services.

The Paradise Valley Cemetery, on the west edge of the town, is another place to appreciate the various stonemasons’ work. Here, you can see marvelous carved stone headstones, many by local artisans, including elegant angels, drapery, doves and other symbols.

For information about Paradise Valley’s architecture and culture, pick up a copy of Howard Wight Marshall’s book, “Paradise Valley, Nevada: The People and Buildings of an American Place.”

Rich Moreno writes about the places and people that make Nevada special.